Support for business

Free food waste coaching for cafes, restaurants and pubs

Join Sydney’s top chefs and learn how to reduce excess and increase profits.

We’re offering free 1-on-1 training for 30 businesses to reduce food waste.

Ambitious and environment-conscious chefs or business managers, this is a great opportunity to benefit from personalised, on-site coaching.

The Love Food Sydney program wraps up in September and limited bookings are offered on a first-in, first-served basis.

Secure your spot quickly. Email our dedicated project manager Emily Keegan on EKeegan@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or call 02 9265 9030.

The training will be run by Edge Environment, international experts in sustainability leadership.

What’s involved

  • 2-hour kick-off meeting with senior employees
  • 2-hour on-site training with all employees
  • Phone support for 6 to 8 weeks while you introduce changes and conduct a waste review

What other Sydney businesses said

Rising Sun Workshop, Newtown

"Rising Sun Workshop signed up to the Love Food Program to gain a better understanding of our impacts and more broadly, the hospitality industry's contribution to food waste in Australia,” said Bec Shave, restaurant manager at Rising Sun Workshop.

“Working with Emily from the City of Sydney and Dana from Edge provided us with an opportunity to reduce our food waste and save waste removal costs. It also connected us with like-minded businesses including Sydney-based cocktail megastar Trolley’d and recycling legend Wanless.

“Since performing our food waste audit, we’ve moved away from single-use paper napkins during our dinner services and made changes to our menu to include more under-utilised ingredients or 'scraps'. The program is free and easy to implement. We highly recommend it to all our industry pals!"

Danielle Alvarez, Fred's, image courtesy of Merivale
Danielle Alvarez, Fred's, image courtesy of Merivale

Fred’s, Paddington

Danielle Alvarez, executive chef at Merivale establishment Fred’s and author of Always Add Lemon, can’t wait for the training.

“It's been something on my mind for a very long time,” she said.

“I really am super thrilled that the City of Sydney has these resources available to businesses at no cost to help us in this arena. Because it's kind of the thing that often gets put into the too hard basket, but if you have free support to help you find solutions, I think we can get it done.”

NSW households and businesses throw away more than $10 billion worth of edible food each year, and the methane produced by decomposing food waste contributes to climate change.

“But the benefits of minimising food waste go beyond the environmental,” Danielle said.

“From an economics perspective, you can turn something that you might have just thrown away into dollars for a restaurant that already struggles with very slim margins.”

The Love Food Sydney training will be rolled out across Merivale’s entire stable of venues.

How to apply

Restaurants, cafes and pubs in the City of Sydney local area can apply.

Keen to find out what you could be missing? Email Emily Keegan on EKeegan@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or call 9265 9030 to book your free spot now.

This project is supported through the NSW Government’s Love Food Hate Waste program.

Published 4 May 2021, updated 29 February 2024